D. S. Mirsky defined something of the essential character of Chekhov's art when he said, in the course of an otherwise hostile account, 'Chekhov … must appeal to Classicist and Romanticist alike: the former will admire the balance and measure of his art and mind; the latter the naturalness of the balance, which in its very harmony remains true to self, and imposes no constraint on spontaneous experience.'1 The...